Soul Calibur 2003
by Megun-chan
Summary: Siegfried guarded the Soul Edge until the end of his days. Centuries later, it has been found and placed in a museum, and the tale of souls and swords is aout to begin anew...
1. Default Chapter

Hey, everybody!! Megun-chan here! You might remember me as being the authoress of The Legend of Zelda: Angel of Death et al. Well, here I am trekking into unexplored territory once again!! That's right! This time it's a Soul Calibur II fanfiction, aptly named "Soul Calibur 2003"!!

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Prologue:

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North of Hamburg, Germany, January 2003

Gregory Harvey frowned as he rested his hand against a crumbling pillar in the dark ruins. He didn't even know what he and the rest of his excavation team were doing in this godforsaken place. The stranger who had given them the job said he would pay a large sum for whatever they could find, but he never said what it was. How the hell were they supposed to know what they were looking for?!

"Hey, boss!" One of the men called from across the makeshift bridge that stretched across the chasm. "I think we found something!!"

Harvey looked up. A bunch of workers were standing around something. Feeling hopeful, Harvey walked quickly across the bridge and pushed his way into the circle. He recoiled almost instantly, swearing.

The thing was lying against one of the walls. It might have been a man once, but the passage of decades- possibly centuries- had worn away any distinguishable features and rusted the armor the man was wearing. Harvey involuntarily knelt down and touched the corpse's face, brushing aside the silvery-blonde hair. As he expected, the body crumpled under his fingers and turned to dust.

The other men backed up in shock as a moan echoed through the ruins, but the noise quickly turned into shouts of excitement coming from the chasm, from the men who had taken the lift (which was really nothing more than a platform and a few pulleys) into the abyss. Harvey and the other men hurried over to their side of the chasm and looked down. The men were coming up, and they had something with them on the lift. Harvey's face lit up.

"Get down there and help them!" he shouted orders at the other workmen, "I think we found what were looking for!!"

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Wah-hoo!! So far so good ::does a dance to "Endless Love" by Two-Mix::!! Er… Yeah. Hope to have the other chapter up in a week or so, but it's difficult with school and Driver's Ed and the next play is starting soon, too. Don't despair, friends!! I'll pull through, and you'll (probably) get your fanfics on time! I'll be seeing ya!

~ M.

NOTE ADDED 1/DECEMBER/2003: Hey all, it's Megun-chan. A lot of you have reviewed requesting to be specific characters in the coming chapters. I'm afraid to say this (because people might hurt me), but this isn't going to be one of the stories where various authors become various characters. And I already have written a few chapters, and have the characters all figured out. I should have made that clear earlier, and I'm sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings (Now I feel bad). HOWEVER!!! If it's all right with you readers, you can still take part as various students or teachers (And expect some of you people to get hurt bad or possibly die; This fanfic was conceived after weekends of Soul Calibur II and weekday mornings of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer").

Thank you for understanding (hopefully ), and I hope you keep reading and reviewing regardless!! (Heh heh, alliteration!! XD)


	2. The Calling

A/n: Hahahaha! Okay, I know you guys reviewed asking to be certain characters, and I thank you for at least reviewing ^ u ^. I said this in the prologue, but some of you might have missed it, so I'll say it again! 

I already have the "successors" picked out, and they're all original characters (Seriously. Just because the heroine's last name is "Mayfair" doesn't mean she's connected with the Mayfair witches in that Anne Rice book, and just because the friend's last name is "Burnside" doesn't mean she's related to my math teacher. They're just cool names.) I deeply apologize, and I hop you won't stop reading it just because you aren't a major character. But if you would like to be someone like a teacher et al, review and please give me an actual first-name last-name name, so I have something to go by. Or I'll have to start making anagrams again.

That said, I have a game to play while you're reading this epic tale of souls and swords!!! SPOT THE SIMILARITIES (situational or characterization-wise) TO BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER!!! XD

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Chapter One:

The Calling

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Texas, En route to the Dallas Museum of Natural History, October 2003

Everyone said Sabrina Mayfair was going to be a movie star. She had a nice build, naturally wavy blonde hair, and soft brown eyes, which were always hidden under dark sunglasses. She had money, she had the clothes, and she had an attitude. The only things she had that were different were brains and a love of violence and games like Dead or Alive and Soul Calibur. But now, she was sitting impatiently on a school bus with her classmates on the way to visit a European exhibit at the museum. She tugged at her turtleneck shirt, wondering how it could be so hot in October, and listened to the discussion Jezebel and Warren were having.

Jezebel Burnside had been Sabrina's best friend since Kindergarten. She had green eyes that were so intense it was frightening, and always had her long brown hair up in either a braid or a ponytail. Today, it was in a braided ponytail, and she had it hanging over her shoulder as she talked to the boy behind her. Jezebel was very tough and tomboyish, almost to the point of acting more like a guy than a girl. She always wore loose-fitting and comfortable clothes, and she seemed like the last person who would be Sabrina Mayfair's friend. But she was. Sabrina admired Jezebel for her strength and courage. Jezebel admired Sabrina for her lifestyle, but also for her kindness and intelligence.

Warren Kelley often got a lot of crap for being friends with two girls and having "Kelley" for a last name. But he had been the girls' friend ever since he moved to their town in the sixth grade. He had burnt red hair that was always spiked up in every direction, and gray, twinkling eyes. Warren was like a brother to Jezebel and Sabrina. He was funny, he was sarcastic, and sometimes very protective. He also had a nasty habit of not thinking before he spoke, which was part of the reason why he was fighting with Jezebel now. Warren and Jezebel had been fighting the most recently. But it was all in jest. Eventually, one of them would roll their eyes, throw up their hands, and sigh, and that was when Sabrina would join in. Within seconds, they would all be laughing as if the argument, no matter how mediocre, had never happened.

Sabrina began to fiddle with the end of her chenille scarf- it had been a major mistake to wear clothes like this when it was so hot outside- and looked out the window as the bus pulled up to the museum. "We're here," she turned around and looked at Jezebel and Warren. "What a day, huh? At least we get to get out of school…"

"Going to look at some stupid things that aren't going to help us in real life, _ever_?" Warren raised an eyebrow and slung his rucksack over his shoulder. "I'd pick school any day. At least it isn't just the three of us there."

"What, so we're too boring for you, macho man?" Jezebel playfully punched Warren in the shoulder. "Come _on_, Warren. I thought you hated school."

"But this counts as school, seeing as it's a trip made for _educational purposes_," Warren wrinkled his nose. "I'd rather just go home and play SCII."

"Ain't it the truth?" Sabrina shrugged and descended the steps on the bus onto the sidewalk. The museum wasn't a very large one, but it had a large front garden with a statue of an important-looking man in the middle of some roses, and above the large doorway, there was a banner that read "European Exhibit October 1- November 1".

A middle-aged man was waiting for them in the lobby. He was balding and wore glasses and a plaid shirt with khaki pants. Sabrina nudged Jezebel and smiled. Same old museum, same old boring tour guide.

"Welcome to the Museum of Natural History," the guide began his relentless droning. "My name is Mr. Smith, and I'll be giving you a tour of the European exhibit we have on display today. Please observe the rules: No gum chewing…"

Jezebel hurriedly sucked the half-blown pink bubble back in her mouth and grinned sheepishly. Warren smirked, and Sabrina snorted, causing a few students to stare at her.

"………………And most importantly, there will be no loud talking or other distractions. This is a museum after all, people. Now, if you'll follow me, we'll begin in the eastern section of the museum…"

The trio rolled their eyes and hung at the back of the crowd of students, where they remained, talking in low voices as the guide pointed out the different types of jewelry royalty in the Middle Ages wore, some furniture that had belonged to Louis XIV, blah blah blah…

"Ooh…" Jezebel tugged on Sabrina's sleeve as they entered the last room of the tour. "The weapon room… This ought to be interesting…"

Sabrina nodded vaguely. The tour guide's voice was beginning to put her to sleep. She glanced around the room with half-closed eyes and yawned. Then, she did a double-take and blinked hard to see if what she had seen was real. It was. She gently nudged Warren and Jezebel, and pointed at it. Their eyes grew wide, and all three of them slowly broke off from the rest of the group, and walked over to the display that had caught their eye.

"Am I dreaming?" Warren whispered.

"Not unless we all are…" Sabrina shook her head. "But still… It can't be."

The thing they were looking at was a sword. But it was a large, rotted-looking sword that had a small hilt and a large eyeball towards the hilt. Many other people like Warren, Sabrina, and Jezebel might have recognized it as the Soul Edge.

"Th' hell…?" Jezebel grew pale. "That can't be… The Soul Edge?!"

Sabrina bent down to read the plaque underneath the display. "The museum is unable to discover anything about this artifact besides that it was found by a group of excavators in a crumbling temple near Hamburg, Germany in January of this year…"

She suddenly felt very dizzy. The Soul Edge was real? Then all those other people…She had thought they all were just video game characters… They were…Were they… Could they be…

"Sabrina?" Jezebel moved closer to Sabrina and put her hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Sabrina managed to turn her head and look at Jezebel with wild, almost frightened eyes. She nodded, just barely, and reeled backwards, collapsing.

"Sabrina!!" Jezebel caught her and lowered her to the ground. Warren knelt beside her.

"What's going on?" One of the teachers had heard Jezebel's cry and came over. "What happened to her? Did one of you-"

"No, ma'am," Warren shook his head.

"We were- she was just looking at the sword-" Jezebel stammered.

"And she collapsed!"

"Ah, yes."

The tour guide had come up to them as well. "We received that sword from a patron of our museum. He said he acquired it from a team of excavation workers in Germany, as you would know if you read the plaque. But…"

"But what?" Jezebel, Warren, and the teacher asked.

The guide shook his head. "That's a strange sword," he replied. "It does weird things to people. The workers who found the sword and sold it to the man all suffered insanity, saying they saw ghosts of knights and pirates and the like. The last one of them died about a month ago…"

"You don't have any idea what that thing is, do you?" Warren stood up. "What it can do?! That's the-"

"Mr. Kelley," the teacher interrupted, supporting Sabrina between herself and Jezebel, "That's enough. Please help Ms. Mayfair get onto the bus." She looked at the two students. "She'll be all right."

"Why did you go and try to tell that guy?" Jezebel snapped at Warren in a hushed tone. "You think he would have listened to us?!"

"I doubt it," Warren shrugged as he lifted Sabrina's arm over his shoulder, "But he might have. You never know."

"The ghosts of knights and pirates…" Jezebel frowned. "You don't think…"

"If the Soul Edge is real…" Warren continued her thought.

They looked at each other, obviously thinking the same thing. "……….Naah…" They said at the same time. "It couldn't be…"

Once Sabrina's unconscious figure was seated on the bus, her two friends sat down in their seats. A few minutes of silence passed, and Jezebel couldn't hold it in any longer.

"You think- by taking the sword out…" she said to Warren, "It _couldn't_ have… you know… awakened their souls?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean…" Jezebel frowned. "I think… never mind. It's a crazy idea."

"All your ideas have been crazy." Warren moved to the seat across from Jezebel and leaned forward. "It's never stopped you before."

Jezebel leaned back and sighed. "The workers claimed they saw ghosts of knights and pirates, so-"

Warren blinked. "Cervantes and Nightmare? Jez, it's crazy, but it just might be true!"

Sabrina moaned softly and turned her head. Finally, she opened her eyes, looking rather confused. "Where am I?"

"You're on the bus, Sabrina," Jezebel put her hand on Sabrina's shoulder. "You passed out when you saw that sword."

Sabrina shut her eyes tightly and opened them again. "The Soul Edge? So I wasn't dreaming…"

Warren nodded. "Jezebel and I were thinking that since-"

All three turned their heads towards the bus door. Warren quickly moved back to his position behind the girls' seat. "They're coming back," he said quickly. "But Jezebel and I thought that since, you know, the Soul Edge is here, then…"

"Those people must be real, too." Jezebel finished. "And there's some kind of curse on that sword, you know…"

"I do. I heard you talking." Sabrina struggled to sit up. "You think those… the people who tried to destroy the Soul Calibur are back?

"It would make sense, wouldn't it?" Warren answered. "The fact that the Soul Edge is here, and the guide saying the excavators saw ghosts of pirates and knights…"

"And fire." Sabrina said quietly. "There was a lot of fire, too. I mean…"

Both Jezebel and Warren looked at Sabrina worriedly.

"While I was knocked out, I saw things… there was a lot of fire, and…" she sighed. "The men combusted. I don't know how I know it… I just do…"

"Spontaneously combusted?" Jezebel looked at Warren.

"Lots of fire? Ah… It makes sense," He nodded. "Inferno."

"Hey, Mayfair," A girl sitting across from them looked at her. She was a very pretty girl, with dark brown hair and almond-shaped brown eyes. What was on her neck that hadn't been there before was a jade, tear-drop shaped stone on a gold chain. The three girls she had been talking to stopped and looked at them too.

"What?" Sabrina scowled.

The girl, Chelsey Mason, twirled a part of her hair around her finger. "Why did you, like, pass out in the museum? Creepy atmosphere too much for you? Or was it just because you were scared of the sword?"

"That's a nice necklace, Chelsey," Jezebel cut in. "Did you buy it here?"

Chelsey rolled her eyes. "No, I bought it on E-bay. Of COURSE I got it at the museum!"

"Yeah," a girl with blonde, braided hair added. "What kind of loser would throw away a piece of jewelry like-"

"_Thank_ you, Amanda," Chelsey jammed her elbow into the back of the seat and Amanda went silent. Warren, Sabrina, and Jezebel exchanged looks and leaned closer together.

"Am I just getting this weird feeling, or…" Warren glanced over at Chelsey, "Is that necklace more than it seems?"

"You and your superstitions," Jezebel threw up her hands. "Hey, Sabrina. Can you spend the night this weekend? My parents'll be out."

Sabrina barely inclined her head, but said: "Yeah. Why not?"

"'Brina?" Warren leaned further over the back of the seat. "What's wrong?"

Sabrina paused. "Ssh," she whispered quietly. "Do you hear something?"

The three teenagers were still for a moment. In the midst of the chatter around them came a hoarse, unearthly whisper.

"Give it back…"

Sabrina, Jezebel, and Warren exchanged frantic glances, and that was when the ground under the bus exploded.

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Ooh!! Do I make too many cliffhangers, or is it just me? Well, that's the first (official) chapter of Soul Calibur 2003! I hope you guys see where this is going, and if you'd like to be a minor character, please review, as I said above. 

~ M


	3. Come Together

Hey all, Megun-chan here again with the second chapter of Soul Calibur 2003!! Okay, I know everybody's reviewed expecting to see reincarnations or descendents of the original fighters, and for awhile I smiled and nodded. But then I thought: Am I REALLY going to go along with the stereotypes of the world today? HELL NAW!! I've thought of a new, possibly innovative idea, and if you don't like it, you don't have to read this fic anymore. It's perfectly optional, y'know?

Anyways, enjoy!

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Chapter Two:

Come Together

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The bus became the sight of mayhem as the force flipped it over and sent it rolling off the street. Sabrina screamed and thrust her hands against the back of the seat in front of her and her own seat. Warren pitched over into the girls' seat, and he and Jezebel were tossed into the aisle along with Chelsey and her friends. The bus flipped over about five times and lay on its side like a broken toy.

One of the teachers pulled himself out of a tangle of students and shouted:

"Nobody panic! Is everyone all right?!"

Sabrina's back was going to have some major bruises, and one of Jezebel's wristbands was cut open by broken glass ("Damn it, and those things were expensive, too!"), but mostly everyone was all right. The bus driver mopped some blood from his forehead and opened the emergency exits. Warren helped Jezebel and Sabrina up, and the discombobulated students climbed out of the bus onto a grassy area near the Dealy Plaza in the downtown area. Already, cars were pulling over to give assistance, and somebody had taken out their cell phone.

"Woah," Jezebel gripped Sabrina's arm and pointed at the street. There was a large, crater-shaped hole that took up the entire width of the road, preventing any cars from getting around it. Suddenly, there was the wailing of sirens, and the passengers on the bus were being ushered into ambulances. The police had arrived, too, and were questioning witnesses as well as the students.

"What caused the explosion?!"

"Some kind of terrorist attack?"

"Thank heavens no one was hurt-!"

"Did you see anything suspicious on the roadway?!"

Sabrina replied as best she could, but in all honesty, she didn't have any idea why this happened. One minute, she was talking to Warren and Jezebel, and the next-

"Give it back…"

A chill swept through the crowd and this time, the voice was heard by all. Suddenly, Chelsey screamed, and pointed to the overturned bus. Standing on top of it was someone clothed in black armor. Sabrina felt her blood run cold, and Warren and Jezebel paled. Everyone in the plaza shrunk back in an unconscious terror as the knight screamed "Give it back!!" once more, and vanished with a blast of cold wind.

~~~

The rest of the afternoon was a blur to Sabrina. Medics hurried the students and teachers away from the plaza and into the nearest hospital, where they were treated for whatever wounds they had and released when their parents arrived. Warren's mother was the last to come, and Jezebel and Sabrina went back to the suburbs with them.

"We should sue them," Michelle Kelley grumbled as they pulled away from the hospital. "That driver should have been watching for things in the middle of the road. It's just stupid mistakes like that-"

"The driver didn't have any control over the situation, Mrs. Kelley," Jezebel intervened.

"But what about that person you said you saw after the accident?" Michelle asked. "I don't care what the news says- they're never right anyways- I think there's a psychopath on the loose."

"No psychopath, Mom," Warren replied. "Nightmare."

"Who?" Michelle looked at the three in the back of the car. "Nightmare? From that game… Soul Calibur II?" When they nodded, she shook her head. "Nonsense! You kids play too many video games."

"It wasn't just us," Sabrina glanced out the window. "Chelsey Mason saw it, too, and she hates video games."

Michelle sighed. "Whatever you say. Jezebel, your parents told me they would be out of town this weekend. Do you need a place to stay?"

"Not really." Jezebel shook her head. "Sabrina said she would stay the night."

"And then you can come to my house," Sabrina added. "So you can drop us off at either of our houses, Mrs. Kelley."

Michelle nodded and steered the car onto the street the three teenagers lived on. "Well, the situation could be a lot worse, I expect."

"Yeah, at least we won't get hounded by the media." Sabrina and Jezebel jumped out of the car. "Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Kelley."

"If you need anything over the weekend, come on over. We're not going anywhere." Warren waved as the girls hurried inside Sabrina's house. There was a moment of silence, and then Warren and his mother sighed. "So, Mom," Warren began, "How was _your_ day?"

~~~

Chelsey Mason paced the floor of her room as she talked to Julie, Courtney, and Amanda on her three-way phone. "It was a complete disaster. I think the accident was the most exciting part of the whole trip. Not to mention Mother and Daddy are thinking about suing the school."

"I know what you mean," Amanda Giles responded impatiently on the other end of the phone. "There's a heapload of dirt on my brand-new blouse thanks to that explosion."

"Well, on the bright side," Julie Monroe commented, "nobody was killed."

"Not that it wouldn't be a bad thing," Chelsey rolled her eyes and bent down to pick her stuffed bear. "Did you see that creepy guy in armor? I swear, I think I've seen him somewhere-"

When she stood up she was facing the mirror. Her face turned the color of a whitewash wall, her eyes grew as large as dinner plates, and she screamed. Reflected in the mirror was a man dressed in a pirate outfit with a pale- almost blue- face, ominous red eyes, and ratty white hair. His pupiless eyes met Chelsey's, and he laughed loudly. Chelsey continued screaming and turned around, but nobody was behind her. The laughing stopped, and when Chelsey returned her glance to the mirror, the man was gone.

"Chelsey?!" Courtney Monroe (Julie's twin sister) shouted over the phone, "Chelsey, are you there?! What's wrong?!"

The door burst open, and Mr. and Mrs. Mason rushed into the bedroom. "Chelsey, what's wrong?!" Mr. Mason grabbed his daughter's shoulders and sat her firmly down on her bed. "What were you screaming about?!"

"There was a man in here!!" Chelsey shrieked, "A man- but he looked like a ghost-!!"

"A _man_?!" Mrs. Mason hurried to the open window and looked out onto the street. "I don't see anybody, sweetheart. Were you just imagining it?"

"No!" Chelsey yelled. "There was someone there, I swear it!!"

Suddenly, her face filled with its usual color, and she straightened up. Dusting herself off, she said in a haughty tone, "You're probably right. There wasn't anything there. Now will you please get out of my room so I can continue my conversation with my friends?"

Mr. Mason stroked his goatee, and he and his wife nodded and walked out of the room. Chelsey waited a few moments, and picked up the phone again.

'It was nothing,' She thought, '_Nothing_. I was imagining things…"

In her mind she heard the laughter again. Her hair stood on end, and she jumped onto the bed and closed the bright pink curtains around it shut.

~~~

"What do you want to do tonight?" Jezebel pulled a spare mattress out of the closet and laid it beside the couch in the den.

"Why don't we watch a movie?" Sabrina threw her duffel on the floor and jumped onto the bed. "You got _The Ring_?"

Jezebel wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, but I don't want to watch that. Let's watch Bond."

"Bond? Are you kidding? I want to watch a scary movie," Sabrina leaned against the couch and pulled a loose DVD from the coffee table. "_Interview With the Vampire_, huh? Cool."

"Brad Pitt…" Jezebel smiled mockingly.

"Oh, yeah, baby." Sabrina laughed and held it out to Jezebel, who sighed.

"I was kind of joking, but hey? Why not?"

The movie started, and Jezebel sat down on the couch next to Sabrina. For the most part, they watched the movie in silence. But once Brad Pitt's vampiric character had bitten Kirsten Dunst, Jezebel got off the couch.

"I'm going to make some popcorn." She commented as she stretched. "I'm hungry."

"All right. If you don't mind, bring some soda up, too," Sabrina nodded and reached over to the remote to pause the movie.

"Okay." Jezebel walked to the head of the stairs, and stood stock still.

"Jezebel?" Sabrina slowly got up and walked over. "Jez, are you okay?"

"There's someone downstairs-" Jezebel whispered through gritted teeth. "In the computer room."

Sabrina scanned the foyer, until she saw a faint light coming from the entrance to the computer room, which was also Mr. Burnside's study.

"Are your parents back already?" Sabrina whispered.

"No. We'd know even if they came home early. It's intruders." Jezebel marched across the den and picked up the leg of a broken couch. Sabrina followed her lead and got a pot holding a small cactus.

They slowly crept down the stairs, and as they reached the bottom, they heard voices and froze.

"'Today, around 2:30 PM, a school bus carrying a load of high school students home from a field trip was overturned in Dealy Plaza due to an explosion underneath the bus…'" A female voice whispered.

"That's the place one of the American presidents was shot, wasn't it?" A male voice asked.

"Yes. 'Fred apparently thought it would be symbolic or ironic or something."

"Talking of me, I'm mentioned." A third voice. Also male, with an odd quality to it.

"Where?" A higher-pitched female voice.

"'Eyewitnesses also report a strange man in black armor who appeared momentarily on top of the overturned bus before vanishing mysteriously. Police believe this person to be a terrorist and the cause of the explosion, and are offering a reward to anyone who has news about this man.'"

"Lucky you." A third male. There were more than five people in that room.

"Hey, congrats, 'Fred. First of us to actually be reported in the modern news."

"Bet they won't catch you, though."

"As they say nowadays, _duh_." Footsteps. Jezebel and Sabrina ducked into the shadows of the stairwell as the steps grew louder, and then softer again.

"Do those voices sound… familiar… to you?" Jezebel whispered quietly. Sabrina nodded.

"Hold on." A deeper female voice murmured. "I heard something."

The two girls froze completely.

"Give it a rest." The first male voice said a little loudly, with sudden whispers coming from the others. "The people in this house are upstairs watching a movie about vampires."

"I peeked in on them, but they didn't notice me," the high-pitched female added. "It seemed like an interesting movie. The male vampires were hot."

"Xianghua!!"

"Just kidding!" The female voice giggled. Wide-eyed, Sabrina and Jezebel exchanged glances.

"Why are we here anyways?" The voice belonging to the man named Fred asked.

"It was your idea," The third male voice replied. "'Cause those girls have that connection between you and Taki."

"And they're the only ones who's parents aren't at home," the deep female voice replied.

A third glance was traded between the girls. "Taki… Xianghua… Jezebel, it's _them_!!" Sabrina whispered.

"What do we do?" Jezebel cast her eyes briefly over to the door.

"There it was again…" Something moved inside the room. "I think there's someone out there. I'll go look."

"Don't, Taki!" A fourth male voice, this one much deeper, exclaimed. "What if they come down and see us?"

"Oh, shut up. I can take care of it." The deep female voice shot back, and the shadow moved again. A woman with black hair pulled back in a ponytail and a tight red bodysuit stepped out of the computer room and cast a glance around the foyer.

Jezebel gasped quietly, and Sabrina jabbed her hard in the ribs. The woman's head jerked over in their direction, and she gave a battle cry before throwing two daggers directly between the girls' heads. Shouting, they jumped up and brandished their weapons.

"Distracted, huh?!" Taki shouted back into the room. "They're right here, and they've got 'weapons'!!"

"Oh, cry me a river." Sabrina and Jezebel did a double take as a teenage boy with spiked red hair and a white shirt and pants came out of the wall and stood next to Taki. "They're smarter than we thought, I guess."

"Y-Y-You're…" Sabrina stammered as she looked back and forth between Taki and the boy.

"Much smarter," Taki smiled, "since they know who we are, it appears."

"What are you doing here?!" Jezebel shouted and held the wooden stick as if it were a dagger. "You have no right to be here! You're trespassing!"

Taki rolled her eyes. "Is that all? Come on. If you're to be my successor, you've got to have more bite than bark."

Sabrina and Jezebel blinked. "'Successor'?"

"Of course." The girls jumped as a girl with light brown hair and a light blue dress came out of the wall and stood by the boy. "We're ghosts, you see? And you're-"

"Wait a second wait a second wait a second!!" Jezebel held up her hands. "Before we go over that, let me get some things straight."

"We're who you think we are." The teenage boy replied. "Taki, Yungsung, and Xianghua. In the room is Mitsurugi, Seung Mina, Kilik, and 'Fred."

"Fred?" Sabrina raised an eyebrow.

"Stop calling me 'Fred', dammit." A man with long blonde hair and black armor came out of the door this time to stand by Taki.

"OH!!" Sabrina slapped her knee as if it was a funny joke. "I get it!! Your name is Siegfred really, instead of Nightmare, but everyone calls you 'Fred' for short!!" She laughed hysterically for about five seconds, realized what she had said, looked up at Nightmare, and fainted again.

"Sabrina!" Jezebel caught her friend and the ghosts rushed towards them. Jezebel glared up at Nightmare. "You were the one at Dealy Plaza this afternoon, weren't you?!"

"Yes." Nightmare nodded.

"You blew up the ground around the bus, didn't you?!"

"Yes." He nodded again.

"Care to tell us why?!"

"No. Not right now." Nightmare rolled his eyes. "When Miss Mayfair wakes up. I hate repeating myself."

"Let's get her back upstairs," Xianghua said as Jezebel lifted Sabrina up with one arm. "We can finish the movie while we wait for her to recover."

~~~

Warren didn't sleep well that night. He woke up every two hours, and it took about one hour for him to get back to sleep, and he spent the said hour tossing and turning fitfully. He woke up from one of his two-hour bouts shouting something incomprehensive, and lay motionless with his eyes closed. When he finally opened them, though, he found staring back at him two red pupiless eyes and two odd-length swords pointed at his head. Warren yelled and rolled off his bed as the swords came down into his pillow. 

The white-haired pirate who had attacked him with the swords grunted and pulled the swords out of the pillow before turning towards Warren. The teenage boy had made it over to his desk, across the room, and proceeded to pick up his desk chair and throw it at the pirate. The chair went through him, but it had the desired effect, and the pirate vanished through the wall and out onto the street.

Warren found himself breathing heavily and sweating, but all together he felt good, considering he had just defeated the dread pirate Cervantes by throwing a chair at him…

Wait…

__

Cervantes?!

Warren ran towards the window and opened it, leaning out over the garden. "Cervantes?!" He called, and looked across the street at Jezebel's house. There was a light on in one of the upper rooms. Jezebel and Sabrina were still up, then. Should he call them and tell them what happened? Would they believe him? It was worth a shot. He picked up the black phone on his desk and began dialing Jezebel's number. When Jezebel answered, she sounded short of breath and excited.

"Warren? It's twelve o'clock. Why are you calling us?"

"What's wrong? You sound flustered…" Warren trailed off.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Jezebel responded.

'Well, that rules out _that_ possibility,' Warren thought, and blushed furiously.

"What's wrong, yourself?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Warren copied.

"Try me."

"If you say so." Warren began. "I-"

There was some commotion from Jezebel's end of the line. "Jezebel, she's coming around!"

"I'll call you back, Warren." Jezebel said impatiently. "Or, better yet, why don't you come over?"

"What?! My parents are home, though." Warren stammered.

"Sneak out, like you always do."

"Do you want Cervantes to attack me while I'm crossing the street?!"

"…………What?"

"I knew you wouldn't believe me! Cervantes was in my room and he tried to kill me!"

There was silence on the other end of the line. "How are you still alive? I mean, he-"

"I threw a chair at him. I guess he didn't expect that, 'cause he ran through the wall and onto the street."

"………………_Through_ the wall? But wait, since they…"

There was more commotion on the other end of the phone, and an unfamiliar voice spoke to Warren next. It was a female voice, slightly high-pitched. "Warren Kelley?"

"Yes?"

"Forget whatever's bothering you and get over here. We need to talk."

* * *

Hah hah! How d'ya like dem apples! I SWEAR this is going somewhere, but I need some time to work on it! Expect the next chapter up as soon as possible, but I'm swamped with exams, even though school ends at 1:15 next week. Oh well. See ya!

~ M


	4. In Which the Tale of Souls and Swords Be...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: OH!!! MY!!! GOD!! Can this be an UPDATE?!?! ::fangirl scream:: Ok, how many ppl have been waiting for this? Well, I'm not going to bore you with jargon about my life, enjoy!!

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Chapter Three:

In Which the Tale of Souls and Swords Begins Anew

~~~

Sabrina moaned and moved her head slightly.

"Jezebel, she's coming around!" An unfamiliar voice said. Sabrina opened her eyes to find Xianghua and another brown-haired girl, Seung Mina, leaning over her. "Are you okay?"

"Jez…?" Sabrina sat up. "Where is she…?"

Jezebel was on the other end of the room, pacing and holding the cordless phone. "I'll call you back, Warren." Jezebel said impatiently. "Or, better yet, why don't you come over?…Sneak out, like you always do………………What? …………How are you still alive? I mean, he…………_Through_ the wall? But wait, since they…"

Seung Mina rolled her eyes and walked over to Jezebel. "Give me the phone." She said.

"You can't hold it, can you?" Jezebel covered the mouthpiece.

"This is taking too long. Give me the phone." In a few quick movements, Seung Mina was holding the phone with a little difficulty, but holding it nonetheless. "Warren Kelley?"

"Yes?" The uneasy male voice answered.

"Forget whatever's bothering you and get over here. We need to talk." Seung Mina put the phone back on its charger and returned to her place beside Sabrina.

"Blunt, yet to the point and effective." A man with black hair and a samurai outfit sat on the couch and looked at Seung Mina. "He probably thinks we attacked them."

"Who was he talking about?" Sabrina sat all the way up and looked at Jezebel.

"He'll probably explain more when he comes over, but in short, Cervantes came into his room and tried to kill him."

"_WHAT_?!?!?!?!" The ghosts all shouted at once. "Cervantes?!" Nightmare asked. "You're serious?!"

"That's what he said." Jezebel nodded. "He was a bit vague on the details, though."

"Doesn't matter." The black-haired samurai leaned forward. "We're all here, so it figures he is, too."

The door downstairs opened with a bang. "Jezebel?" Warren called, "Sabrina?!"

"Warren!" Sabrina and Jezebel ran to the head of the stairs. "Are you okay?"

"Uh-huh. A little freaked and very tired, but I'm okay." Warren yawned and climbed up the stairs, where he stopped dead and gaped at the company in the den. "Woah. A big fat woah. With a capital 'W'."

"At least he didn't pass out or threaten us with some weapon," A man with brown hair said nonchalantly.

"A pleasant change, huh, Kilik?" Xianghua looked over at the man, who nodded.

"I threw a chair at Cervantes." Warren responded.

"Yes, so we heard," Nightmare nodded. "Sit down, all three of you."

The three complied, and Nightmare stood up and began pacing the study.

"As you might be aware, my name is Siegfred Schtauffen, also called Nightmare. The people here with me are Yungsung, Xianghua, Taki, Mitsurugi, Seung Mina, and Kilik. There are others, but they are lying in wait until we are certain we can trust you and until we know if you are to be three of the warriors' successors."

"You keep saying 'successors'," Sabrina leaned forward. "What does that mean and how do we know if we are one?"

"You don't know until you know." Yungsung shook his head. "I know it sounds confusing, but when it happens, you'll know."

"But that means it could be anyone!!" Jezebel cried. "How do you expect to find someone if you don't even know who you're looking for?!"

"We don't know for sure." Taki shook her head. "The only reason we came to you two… three, really… is because you're the only ones at the exhibit today who recognized the Soul Edge for what it really is."

"Out of the entire day?" Warren blinked. "Damn. Some people have no life."

"You said Jezebel and I might be Taki and Nightmare's successors, though." Sabrina intervened. "How did-"

"_Might_, Miss Mayfair," Nightmare bowed his head. "Simply because of appearance and personality."

"Oh. How do you plan to find out if-"

"They don't know."

Everyone turned towards the head of the stairs. Leaning (or as best as he could since he's a ghost) against the wall was a tall man with shoulder-length blonde hair and an angry expression on his face.

"They don't know how they plan to find out." He said as he stepped forward and spread his arms out. "We're grasping at straws here. They don't know who the hell they're looking for, but they thought they'd come to you three to prove me wrong."

Taki rolled her eyes. "Give me a-" Here she said a rather vulgar word that must be censored "-break, Raphael. Look at them."

Warren, Jezebel, and Sabrina all looked at Raphael. "Really?" Warren asked. "That's Raphael? The crazy guy?"

Raphael gave Warren the Look, but rolled his eyes and started swinging his sword around with a bored expression on his face.

"Watch it!" Jezebel shouted. "You're going to break something!" But she stopped as she realized that when his sword was about to hit the flowerpot on a small table next to him, it passed through it as if it wasn't even there.

"I don't think the flowerpot will be the least of your worries, Jezebel." Kilik had walked over to the window and was looking down at something in the backyard. "Were your mother and father, by any chance, really attached to that tulip bed in the corner of the yard?"

"Not until recently, but why?" Jezebel walked over to the windows and looked down. She had to pick her jaw off the floor and rub her eyes before she could look again. "Oh… my… God…"

"What's wrong?" Sabrina joined Kilik and Jezebel at the window, and almost shrieked in shock, drawing all the others to the window as well. Down in the backyard was a two-legged lizard, which seemed to have gotten in by way of storming through the fence and stomping the bed of tulips.

"Lizardman?!" Warren, Jezebel, and Sabrina cried. The Soul Calibur Warriors did a double take, and flew down the stairs into the backyard. Raphael stopped at the head of the stairs.

"Wait a minute, what the hell am I doing?" He turned around, and ran back to the three teenagers, and leapt through the window, landing on the roof and making his way down into the yard. Warren, Sabrina, and Jezebel just looked at each other.

"Warren, find a weapon," Jezebel ordered, and snatched the broken couch leg, and handed the cactus to Sabrina. Warren unplugged a lamp and picked it up. 

"Godzilla's goin' down."

With a half-assed battle cry, the three brandished their weapons and thundered down the stairs into the backyard in enough time to see "Godzilla" fling Xianghua _through_ the brick wall into the living room inside. They almost gave up right there and then.

"What are you waiting for?!" Kilik shouted as he rolled around the Lizardman and tried to stick him in the back with his pole. It went right through, as it probably would have if the attacker was solid, but it seemed to have no effect. It was only when Taki leapt up in his face and slashed his throat with her knives did it seem to get annoyed, punched Taki hard in the stomach, grabbed her as she fell, and spun her around to throw her into the incoming Mitsurugi, Yungsung, and Raphael, who fell back.

"They can't hurt him!" Sabrina turned and looked at Warren and Jezebel. "We've got to help!"

"You crazy? This is _Lizardman_! Even I have trouble fighting him, and I'm the best of the three of us!!"

"Do you have a better idea?" Jezebel shouted. "We can't just leave them!!"

Warren was hesitant. "…………You're right… But what CAN we do?"

"Our best!" Sabrina raised a fist. Then, at risk of sounding too cliché, she added: "Duh."

With a loud battle cry, the three people ran at Lizardman. Warren leapt on his back, and brought the lamp down as hard as he could. Sabrina broke the cactus pot over Lizardman's head, and proceeded to stab him with the prickers multiple times in the face. Jezebel was the deadliest. She opted for a lower route, ducking low and thrusting the table leg into Lizardman's foot, standing up when he reared back in confusion, and thrust it into his eye. The victim screamed in pain and anger, and threw the teenagers off with a mighty shove.

Sabrina screamed as she found herself flying towards the brick wall. Somebody shouted, and instead of hitting brick, she landed against something relatively softer. Which wasn't much, considering the thing that saved her was actually Nightmare. And instead of passing through him as she expected, they both flew backwards a couple inches before landing on the ground. When Sabrina opened her eyes, she noticed Taki intercepted Jezebel, and they both had landed on the ground safely. Seung Mina had grabbed Warren's hand as he flew towards the fence, and the momentum spun them around, which ended up with Warren sitting on the ground in front of the Korean fighter. The other warriors had again engaged the now lame and semi-blind Lizardman.

"Are you okay?" Nightmare asked as he helped Sabrina get off him.

"Yeah, but…" Sabrina blinked. "How did you stop me? Why didn't we fly right through you guys?"

"Hey, 'Brina…" Jezebel called. "What happened to your cactus?"

Sabrina looked down. And did a double take. In her right hand was an exact duplicate of Nightmare's weapon, the Soul Edge. And it still didn't feel any heavier than a cactus. "Forget that," she looked up again. "Where's your table leg and Warren's lamp?"

By now all three of the adolescents and their saviors were amazed. Warren's lamp had turned into Seung Mina's weapon, but she still had hers with her. Jezebel's table leg had copied itself, the clone winding up in her right hand, and both had changed into Taki's weapons.

"…We were right, then," Mitsurugi lowered his sword. "The three of you are their successors."

"Hah!" Yungsung raised a fist. "We were RIGHT, Raphael."

"…………………_Allez à l'enfer_..."

"And now we CAN beat Lizardman!" Warren thrust the halberd into a fighting stance mimicking Seung Mina's, Jezebel twirled the daggers around and crouched into a karate stance, and Sabrina stood up, holding the Soul Edge with both hands. It was hard work, even for such a little movement like that.

Warren moved first, but Jezebel was at Lizardman's side before him. She delivered an elbow-jab, then a low kick, and stood up, driving both daggers into his back. Warren turned the halberd around, and jabbed the butt of the weapon into Lizardman's gut. Sabrina stepped up, swung the sword over her head, and with an uncharacteristic roar, decapitated Lizardman. The head landed on Warren, who shrieked like a girl and jumped away. 

All was silent for a moment or two. Then, Xianghua started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Kilik looked down at her in some annoyance.

"It's wonderful!" She chuckled. "Three successors at once! It's a new record!"

"Yes, but it's only a record because there have been no successors before this." Raphael sheathed his rapier.

Jezebel smiled and looked over at Sabrina. The smile instantly vanished. "'Brina? You OK?"

Sabrina stuck the Soul Edge in the ground and knelt, clutching at the hilt so hard her knuckles were turning white. She was sweating, and breathing heavily. "It's… kinda…hard…"

"It's OK, Miss Mayfair." Nightmare came to her side, but just stood there. "Using the Soul Edge is mentally exhausting at first. But you will get better."

"Yeah?" Sabrina looked up.

"Sure. You _are_ my successor; You kind of have to."

Sabrina moaned and put her head down again. "I think I'm gonna pass out…"

Warren sat on a lawn chair, holding his weapon like a staff. "But thank God it's Saturday today-"

"You mean tomorrow," Seung Mina interjected. "It's only 11 p.m."

"You're serious?!" Jezebel blinked. "How do you know that? Come to think of it, how do you know our names?"

"Please, Jezebel," Taki rolled her eyes and sheathed her own weapons. "We're ghosts. We know everything."

"Tell us…" Sabrina said between breaths, "How… How did… this happen…?"

The ghosts exchanged a few glances. "Come inside," Mitsurugi said. "I think it's time we told you ourselves."

The ghosts vanished through the walls, and the other three followed soon after. Jezebel caught up with Sabrina, who was walking slow and still breathing hard, and asked:

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Sabrina nodded and managed a smile. "Sure. Just tired."

"Look, if it's the Soul Edge, I-"

"It isn't. This has just been a really big day. Everything's fine."

"………………Promise?"

"Would I _not_ tell you if something was wrong?" Sabrina asked, almost snapped, and opened the door inside.

Jezebel stopped for a moment. Maybe she was tired herself, but she had detected the sort of bitterness in Sabrina that usually only came from Chelsea. This made her think something was wrong. It was possible, maybe, that Sabrina really _was_ just tired. But the Soul Edge was evil, every gamer worth their salt knew that. And Jezebel was concerned with how much it had drained her friend's energy with just one or two swings. Sure, maybe Nightmare or one of the other Calibur fighters had managed to overpower it, but she highly doubted that Sabrina could, especially if they would be fighting another Lizardman or Cervantes soon. She knew the Calibur fighters needed a successor, but why did the most confusing and temperamental and dangerous and potentially _evil_ character have to choose her best friend?

* * *

OOH!! PLOT DEVICE!! Excellent… Ok, ppl, Read and Review! You OBVIOUSLY like it so much… lol. Hope this satisfies!

EDIT 10/April/2004: Hmmm… OK, changed some stuff. Added the ACTUAL French thing to Raphael's lines. If I'm not mistaken, he's saying "Go to Hell…" If I'm wrong, tell me and tell me the actual way to say that. Thanks!

~ M


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